Hot-spot mix in ignition-scale inertial confinement fusion targets

Phys Rev Lett. 2013 Jul 26;111(4):045001. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.045001. Epub 2013 Jul 22.

Abstract

Mixing of plastic ablator material, doped with Cu and Ge dopants, deep into the hot spot of ignition-scale inertial confinement fusion implosions by hydrodynamic instabilities is diagnosed with x-ray spectroscopy on the National Ignition Facility. The amount of hot-spot mix mass is determined from the absolute brightness of the emergent Cu and Ge K-shell emission. The Cu and Ge dopants placed at different radial locations in the plastic ablator show the ablation-front hydrodynamic instability is primarily responsible for hot-spot mix. Low neutron yields and hot-spot mix mass between 34(-13,+50) ng and 4000(-2970,+17 160) ng are observed.